I have a 4 month old baby boy who has been excessively spitting up his formula since he was 1 month old. His pediatrician has already changed his formula. He started on the Similac advance (blue), and then was changed to the Similac Soy. It seems that his spitting up has gotten worse with the soy, and the spitting up comes out curddled. He's now really gassy, even though we give him mylecon drops. We've also tried all types of new bottles, and burping him every so often during each feeding. However, none of this seems to work. He even spits up an hour or so after feeding. He usually drinks about 4-5 oz every two-three hours. I've heard negative things about putting cereal in the bottle, so I'm not comfortable with that idea.
Have you tried Soy Formula, My oldest was allergic to everything except the soy brand from simaliac. Stuff smells nasty when he burps but it worked.
Hi Hilda, by any chance has your doctor checked your child for acid reflux (GERD)? Hopefully, this will not be the case for your child, but try to look into this just in case. I have had the same problem with my grandson, and he has to drink special milk. Your child could be lactose intolerant, it's a hard thing to figure because babies can't tell us what's wrong. Let us know how everything works out.
Has your baby's spitup increased more recently? Has he started rolling over yet? Rolling over and pressing on the contents in the belly could make the spitup more frequent.
Go to webmd or babycenter and look up 'happy spitter' and see if the symptoms are the same.
Our baby spit up for 9-10 months. It was disgusting, messy, and annoying - to mom and dad. He could have cared less about it! He'd spit up and then happily rub his hands or face in it.
You can try to burp him until you hear a burp (which I am sure you do), but also try keeping him upright for 30-60 minutes after a feeding and not jiggle or jostle him around.
The spitting up stopped once we were in stage 2-3 foods and disappeared completely once we started actual solids.
Hi Hilda,
my advice is a combination of all the below. My son was a spitter, and sometimes a forceful puker, where it would completely bypass his clothing and burp cloth and end up on the floor or me - it was a while before I wore anything remotely nice. :)
First, definitely ask about the acid reflux. it typically shows up around 2-6 weeks, which sounds about the time frame you describe. My son had this and was on a prescription for it. however, my son was clearly in a lot of pain too... so you may just have a happy spitter :)
Also, I agree on the milk/lactose intolerance. ALL 4 of my kids had an intolerance to milk/lactose. They were all given soy formula and they are all fine :) my 12 yr old is on the honor roll, my 10 yr old is getting straight A's and both babies are right alongside their milk based formula and breastfed peers. My 15 mo. old still has an intolerance and is given Lactaid Whole or he's gassy, crabby and has diarrhea. Edit: I was told that the form of spit up, depends on where it came from. If it came from the stomach and has mixed with the stomach acids, it will be curdled. if it was just in the esophagus (sp?) it will look like liquid. A lot of babies also have an immature stomach sphincter where it doesn't close off to keep stomach contents down once swallowed. he may just grow out of it.
Lastly, my pediatrician said it was ok to start rice cereal at 4 months. plain rice cereal, not with apples, not with bananas, plain rice only. It is the least allergenic of the grains, and since it is fortified, there really shouldn't be a concern that it's nutritionally empty. But you dont want to give so much that he reduces his formula intake. I had been giving it to my son already when my ped said it was ok to start. My method was to take one of those medicine cups with the nipple attached to it, and mix some rice cereal in the cup with warm water, attach the nipple and give it to him at the end of his bottle. I must say, this really did help. I didn't have any fantasies of him sleeping thru the night, but it helped with the spitting up. But I think by 4 months I was giving it to him with a spoon... keep in mind, they need to be taught how to use a spoon, and their tongues will instinctively push food out... it's messy, but he'll get the hang of it.
Good luck to you - I know it's scary being a new mom, but you have all of us! God Bless Mamasource!
Hi,
there is one more Similac formula you could try. It's called Similac Sensitive R.S. (our pediatrician recommended it to us). It provides the nutrition and helps reduce spitting up (it's milk based formula).It's thicker so you will probably need to change the nipples. Take a look at www.similac.com. Check it out with your doctor first. Besides..maybe your baby should spend more time in a different position durig the day, maybe bouncer would help? Have you tried it yet? Burping is also very important. Try to always burp your baby (after feeding) before you lay him down. I know sometimes it takes time for babies to burp. If it's not something else (I mean more serious problem) the spitting up disappears when babies get older so then you can come back to the regular formula. Hope that was helpful.
When my son was 1 month old he was diagnosed with GERD or acid reflux.(he had an upper GI done)The doctor put him on reglan. I also had to put cereal in his formula which seemed to help. My son screamed day and night. I'm not sure if that's what your son has but it's worth mentioning it to your doctor.
Is he fussy? Does he arch his back a lot? Does he seem like he's in pain? My daughter spit up like a maniac and it turned out to be acid reflux. She had a bad case of it though and she was in A LOT of pain (what a nightmare). I refused to put cereal in her bottle too, until her GI Dr told me to. I suggest leaving it up to the Dr. It did help reduce the "projectile" vomitting but she gained a ton of weight (poor baby)from the cereal! She looked like a baby budha!LOL
If it's just a nuisance and you don't feel it's a health issue, just keep plenty of bibs and spit up towels handy and find comfort in knowing he'll grow out of it between 6-12months. But if it appears he may be suffering from pain (like the wondeful heartburn we experienced during pregnancy), then ask your Ped to send you to a specialist to ensure there isn't any damage being done to his esophogus.
Also some tips they gave me were feed in an upright position and try to keep him upright for at least 30mins after feedings. The motto is, "gravity is your friend". I know...kinda dorky but true!
This sounds exactly like my son. It wasn't projectile though like GERD, just frequent spitting up. We went through at least 6 to 8 bibs per day, and countless outfits. My doctor diagnosed him as having an allergy to the protein in milk. He would spit up a lot and be gassy, sometimes runny poops, and when he got a little older, green poops. You should have your doctor check his stool. Sometimes there are traces of blood (not seen by the naked eye) and that can indicate the irritation in stomach lining from the milk. (DONT be alarmed though, it is fixable!) The problem with soy is that the protein compound is very similar to that of regular milk and that is why switching to soy often does not work. What we did was the following:
1 - Make sure to keep him upright 15-20 minutes after every feeding.
2- Switch to Nutramigen formula. It's really expensive, but if that's what it takes to help him feel better, then that it shall be!
3 - Feed him more often but less quantity. Sometimes too much in the stomach causes spitting.
Good luck! By the way, my son is now almost 8 mos old, and I have tried re-introducing milk based products now and again, and he is still allergic. The doc says that most kids do out-grow it, usually after one to two years.
Good luck!
Denise
Why don't you try a different brand of milk. Infarmeal. My daughter just had her first child and she had a problem with her baby spitting up also. she change from Infarmeal to Similac then back to te original infarmeal after a couple of days. She do not have that problem anymore.You can also go old school and do the milk that our mothers use to give us.
Gosh this sounds like just what we went through. The Soy was worse than the formula, and my son continued to vomit even with mylicon and a GERD medicine. Ask to be referred to a GI specialist and they will check your child's stool to determine whether there is a milk/soy protein allergy (different than lactose intolerance) which can show as blood in the stool that is invisible to the eye.
The GI doctor had us try Nutramigen and Alimentum, which are formulas where the protein is broken down to amino acids. We ended up on an even more broken down one called Neocate.
The GI doctor had us keep our son off milk / soy proteins until one year. She said if you completely remove the allergen (which the doc should educate you on, since milk and soy proteins hide in MANY processed foods like Gerber cereals, puffs, etc) then the body has a chance to heal and kids can usually tolerate them with no problems after a year off. Our son had no problems when we introduced cows milk at one year and everything else after that.
One piece of advice from my perspective - if you think something 'isn't right' - don't give up. It took us 2-3 months to cycle through all these formulas. The doc had told us to give each new formula several weeks to kick in... but my son just kept vomiting and I'd call again after those several weeks. But when he got on the 'right' formula for him, he stopped vomiting within 24 hours. It was my first child, I didn't know how much to push... but my advice is that if the new formula isn't helping, keep pushing. Trust yourself.
So hang in there! I've got a GI doc in Glenview that we liked if you want her name.
Good luck, let me know if you'd like to chat.
Amy
Hello Hilda,
I am sorry for the worry that your going through. I have five kids of my own so I know what your going through. My son had the same problem when he was a newborn. We were giving regular formula at first and then we switched to the soy which wasn't any better so finally we had to go to another type of formula that was probably the most expensive formula out there but, it worked. The formula is called Nutramagine. It is a formula that is partially digested already so it makes it easier for the babies body to digest it and it stays down. At least I was lucky with it. You may want to talk to your Pediatricion about it and try it.I wish you the best. You may also want to talk to your Dr. to see if your baby may have acid reflux? I wish you and your baby the best.
Sincerly,
Wanda Mother of five
Hi there. I think that your baby might have acid reflux. Talk to your pediatrician and see if he/she will prescribe zantac. My daughter had a similar problem and a few days after being put on zantac she wasn't spitting up and wasn't fussy/gassy any longer. Good luck:)
I don't know of a cure, but my son did this until he was 18 months old and he is now 6'3 and 200lbs and 34, I know it's scary but nothing to worry about. Suppose to be a lazy trap door to the stomach and eventually learns to shut and stay shut?
I never dealt with formula, but my son happened to spit up a lot too. Some kids just do. You may want to try putting a thick magazine under the head part of his mattress, as it may be a kind of reflux, and sleeping elevated sometimes helps.
Have they checked for acid reflux? My son was projectile vomiting (don't know if yours is that severe) being breast fed and with formula. Once they got him on the medication for the reflux he was fine. My son had it from the moment he was born, but I have heard that it can take time to develop in some babies. It is worth checking it out.
My daughter had reflux really badly as an infant. I learned that it is quite common in the beginning, but they outgrow it quickly. Mine did not, so at 6 months she was medicated. It only took 1 month of the medication and she was fine after that. However, my understanding is that the doctors won't medicate a child (in most circumstances) until they are 6 months old and still having a problem, as that is the age by when most outgrow the problem.
Anyway, I did add cereal to her formula around 2 months at the suggestion of the doctor. That helped...the heavier their intake, the better the chances of keeping it down. I didn't notice any negatives of adding the cereal. Because of how thick it is though, I had to buy the Y cut nipples.
My daughter was also allergic to milk, so the soy formula did help too. At least the spitting up was not projectile after switching to soy. There is another formula, though it's milk based, that is called Nutrimagen (I may have spelled that slightly incorrectly). That is a bit more expensive, but is specifically for babies with touchy digestive systems.
Good luck!
Try enfamil ar. It is formula with added rice to it so it is a little thicker. My daughter who is now 2 1/2 was the worst puker when she was a baby. We tried several different formulas, including soy....but found that the enfamil ar and dr. brown bottles helped the most. She was considered a happy puker since she was gaining weight and we were told she would outgrow it and she eventually did.
Hi Hilda,
This sounds like what we had to deal with when our son was that age. He had, well has, acid reflux and has been on two meds. He is now 9 1\2 months and on prevacid. That seems to work wonders. I'm actually surprised your doc never mentioned because it sounds like a classic case. Try looking on the web for the symptoms for GERD and acid reflux and see if it sounds like your issues. Good luck, I know it's hard to see your son that way. :(
My granddaughter did the exact same thing for about the first 4 to 6 mos of her life. Her pediatrian recommended Simalac Infomil Advanced (pink can). (Sam's has the best price on cans of formula). It is soy & lactose-free. We also used the bottle with the bend in the neck (Walmart has the best price on them). She had lots of problem with gas. We didn't start her on cereal until she was about 6 to 7 months old. She was unable to go on milk until she was 1 yr old without violently throwing up. She now can drink milk. She will only drink it if its flavored with one scoop of formula. I see from her over night bag that she can drink anything now without any problem.